


Bound

by Yumisaki



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, Jpop
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 08:39:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yumisaki/pseuds/Yumisaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yamada wakes up, chained, in a room. He doesn't know how he got there or what happened, but he remembers, little by little...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Yamada POV

 

“Ouch…“ I tried to stand up, but I was chained at my hands, feet and even my neck. The cold steel had already left little wounds at the places they rubbed at my skin. The rest of my body also hurted terribly and when I tried to get on my knees, I saw little drops of blood running down my right arm, trickling down at my hand. I couldn’t see where exactly it was coming from, but it was probably my shoulder. It felt numb and throbbing at the same time. Why did I have injuries like that?

“What…” my voice cracked and I coughed.

The room I was in was completely dark. It almost felt like a dungeon.

My clothes were taken away from me, except for my pants. I was freezing; my whole body shuddered when I leaned against the cold stonewall.

How did I even get here? The last thing I remembered was … what was it? I knew that I went to dance practice… But I didn’t remember getting home that evening… Where did I go?

I let out a scream, when I felt the pain in my head getting stronger, making it feel like it could explode every second.

I fell onto the ground, not able to move even an inch. Despite not being able to move, I could remember a part of the last evening.

 

_“You’re going home already?” Keito asked and my other band mates lifted their heads to look at me._

_“Yeah, I’m not feeling well…” I scratched my head and said goodbye to everyone. I really wasn’t feeling well, I had a headache and my cold had gotten worse, too. Dance practice was probably too much for me. I made my way to the dressing rooms and changed. Even though I hadn’t danced much, I was completely out of breath and soaked with sweat._

_When I stepped outside, I shuddered and looked around. It was already dark and it had become much colder. I just stood in front of the building for a few minutes. Hearing the music my band mates were dancing to from inside, their laughter and the squeaking of their shoes relaxed me somehow. And that what was I really needed to do – relax. It was such a nice and familiar sound and I had to take a deep breath before I started walking the way to my house._

The pain stopped again.

What had happened then?  
My house was about twenty minutes away from the building our practice room was in, so what could have possibly happened at that time?

Breathing heavily, I looked around in the room. I realized that the pain stopped when I didn’t try to remember the previous evening. More important than remembering was getting out of that prison I was in. My hands and feet started feeling numb and I rolled myself up. It didn’t help much, but at least my eyes had gotten used to the darkness in the room and I could see better.

It really looked like a dungeon. The walls, the ground, the ceiling, everything was made of cold stone and there were empty chains hanging down from the sides.

I looked to the right and I could see a little puddle – whatever it was – in the corner of the room. On the left, there were my clothes. I tried reaching them, but the chain on my neck kept me from doing so. I choked and leaned back onto the wall. It was useless. I was not even close to getting my clothes and I didn’t have anything to get them closer to me.

The door was in front of me, but I couldn’t reach it either. It was only a wooden door, so I could have easily broken it open, if it wasn’t for the cold steel pushing into my skin.

I sighed and closed my eyes. My head started pounding again and I groaned when I remembered a bit more of the story.

 

_“It’s so cold…” I mumbled, walking down the street. I tucked my hands into my pockets and buried half of my face in the collar of my jacket. My legs felt weak and I regretted that I didn’t stay at home today. It would have been better if I would have recovered completely before going to dance practice again.  
“Hey…” A whisper out of a dark corner of the street made me flinch back. I went to take a closer look and tilted my head when I saw and old man sitting on the ground. _

_“Can I… help you?” I asked. I didn’t want to get closer, but I couldn’t see his face from that distance. So I took another step towards him and bend down a bit. I still couldn’t see his face, but it was easier to understand his mumblings now._

_“Yes, yes, you can… Could you come a bit closer so I can tell you how to help me?”_

The pain had become unbearable. I screamed and pressed my hands onto my head, but the pain wouldn’t stop. Tears ran over my face and I sobbed and squeezed my heated face against the wall. It helped a bit and I sobbed a few more minutes while the throbbing in my head slowly disappeared.  
I was afraid of trying to remember again. I wanted – no I _needed_ to know what the old man wanted me to help with, but I wasn’t sure if I could take this pain another time.

I gasped when I felt something on my hand. I saw a rat disappearing into the wall. Wait, into the wall? I laid down to see where it went. There was a little hole in the wall and I tucked my hand into it.  
It was deeper than I expected. Lying on my stomach, I couldn’t reach my hand out any further when I felt something at the tips of my fingers.  
“Just a little more…” I whispered and forced myself to crawl forwards a little more. The chains were piercing through my skin and I could barely breathe with the steel around my neck. Then I finally reached the object and pulled it out of the hole.

I let out a gasp of relief when I saw what I was holding. A key!

But my hopes were destroyed fast. The key didn’t fit in the keyholes of the chains around my arms and feet. But at least I could get my neck free with it.

Able to move my head however I wanted now, I looked around the room again. Were there any other hidden keys? Whoever brought me here wouldn’t have put it there by accident, he would have wanted me to find my way out! But why?

Then I felt my head throbbing again.

“Oh, no, please, no…” I whispered and curled myself in again.

 

_I stepped closer to the man and he lifted up his head._

_“You know…” he whispered, but then his voice got louder. “I can’t be helped!” he jumped up and rammed something into my shoulder. I didn’t see what it was but it felt like a needle and I let out a scream.  
“What…?” I began, but I couldn’t talk anymore and fainted. _

 

“Stop it!” I yelled, my head felt like it would explode.

“I can’t take this anymore…” my sobbing became louder and my whole body started shaking.

This was probably the last thing I remembered. After the man had injected me something that made me faint, I woke up here.  
I waited a few more minutes, until the pain in my head had eased a bit, before I looked up again.  
I gasped when I saw two dark eyes staring down at me through the aperture in the door.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Yamada had remembered the story of the previous evening, he tries to get out of his prison...

“So… you remember?” the whispering voice from the other side of the door made me shudder.  
“Good…” he continued. The whisper sounded familiar, it was the old man I had met that night. “How do you feel? You want to come out?” he said in a sarcastic tone and then laughed. His laugh was crazy, it sounded like a dying bird or something.

“What do you want?!” I shouted at him and held back my tears. It felt terrible to sit here like this. I had never been in such a humiliating situation.

The man’s laugh stopped. “Answer me.” His stare was intense. He didn’t blink even a single time.

“What do you think?!” I gave back furiously. “Of course I want to get out!”

I knew it wasn’t a good idea to answer him like that, he was the only one who could let me out of here after all. But I just couldn’t help it.

“You think you are brave?” the man grunted and I heard a click at the door. It swung open and I could see him standing there. He wasn’t tall, maybe even smaller than me and the rest of his looks seemed ordinary too. Except for his eyes. These dark brown eyes, which still hadn’t blinked even once. Which kept staring at me. Which I would probably never be able to forget for my whole life.

I shuddered again and tried to crawl away when he took a few steps towards me.

He kneeled down and stared at me again. I wasn’t able to stand his gaze but I couldn’t look away either. My whimper made him grin and he pulled a key out of his pocket.

“Come on. Free yourself.” He raised an eyebrow and laid the key in front of him.

I was confused but crawled forward a bit. The old man didn’t move an inch and I slowly got closer and closer. But the chains at my wrists and feet held me back. The key was lying at exactly the point where I couldn’t reach it anymore. One centimeter closer and I could have gotten it. I tried to reach it with all my strength but the chains pierced through my skin and I felt blood running over my hands again.

The man watched me a few minutes then got up and walked out slowly, leaving the door open.

“How should I…” I whimpered but he ignored me. So I got onto my stomach and tried to get the key again. My legs and arms felt numb and my head felt dizzy, but that key was my only way to get out of here.

Then I got up and crawled towards the walls again. I was so stupid! I still had the other key, the one I had used for the neck chain. I took it between my teeth and robbed on my stomach towards the second key. It was still not easy, but I managed to reach it.

This time, I could open the rest of the chains. All of them.  
When I saw the terrible wounds on my skin, it hurted even more. The steel was rusty, and my wrists didn’t look healthy at all. First, I put on my clothes again. They were dirty and ripped a bit, but I didn’t care. When I tried to stand up, my legs felt numb like they never felt before. But somehow I managed to take the few steps until I reached the doorframe.

I was finally outside of my dungeon. But the next problem was the staircase in front of me. My legs still refused to work properly, so I needed my arms, too.

Upstairs, there were two doors. Both didn’t look like an exit, so I decided to try the door on my right first.  
I pressed my ear against the door, hoping to hear something, but I had a ringing in my ears because of the pain that was literally all over my body.  
So I waited a few minutes and tried again. I didn’t hear anything from the other side of the door, then suddenly there was a whisper behind me.

“What do you think you are doing here?”

I gasped and whirled around. The man gave me the same intense stare as he did before and I felt like I was paralyzed. Not able to move, I felt a needle being stuck into my stomach before I fainted again.

I woke up, but this time I wasn’t in that dungeon like before. It seemed more like a living room, except for the cage I was sitting in. I looked around and saw the old man sitting in front of a table, having his back turned towards me.

“You woke up?” he said, busy with something on the table I couldn’t see.

“You really thought it would be so easy, didn’t you?” he let out a bitter laugh and stood up from his chair.

I still couldn’t see what was on the table, so I looked around the room. It was really a normal living room. Well, a bit old-fashioned but nice. Like you would expect it from an old guy like this.

The only thing that looked weird was a jar in a cupboard. It was filled with something like grey powder.

“What is that?” I nodded into the direction of the jar.

“Mind your own business!” the man didn’t look as calm as he did the whole time. That jar, whatever was in it, was his weak point.

“Why am I here?” I didn’t feel as unsafe as before. There were no chains hurting me and I didn’t sit in a cold cellar. The situation didn’t seem as dangerous as it did before now.

The man took a deep breath and sat down on the floor in front of my cage.

“Let me tell you a story.” He began and closed his eyes. Before he continued talking, I sat down, too.

“When I was about your age, I met a beautiful girl. For me, she was the most beautiful woman existing. I met her at the birthday party of a good friend of mine, but I was too shy to talk to her. So I wrote down a message on a piece of paper and put it into her purse, so she would read it. Yes, I remember that message… I was so young back then, so… childish. _I don’t know who you are, and you probably don’t know who I am, but… You look like an angel!_ Then I wrote my address below, hoping she would come to see me someday. And she did. She visited me a week later and we fell in love immediately. She lived in a nearby town and we met often. Everyone told us what a beautiful couple we were and how perfectly we suited each other, so we decided to marry a year later. Now everyone said that we decided way too fast and that our relationship would probably break apart soon, but we didn’t care. We just knew that we would love each other, no matter what would happen. I accepted even her weird side - she had a few strange hobbies - she believed in ghosts and loved all these supernatural things, and in the end, she even got me to go to one of these festivals with her. It made me so happy to see how excited she got when she talked with people who claimed to have some kind of powers. Then she dragged me into a little shop with a man sitting in front of a crystal ball. We talked to him and I tried to hold back my giggles because everything he told us was just so… ridiculous. But I remember how shocked I was about some things he told us… I’m not going to tell these things to _you_ now, because you will find out soon enough. But let’s just say, we entered into a contract we both believed in. I didn’t mind that contract for the following years, but now…” the man sighed and opened his eyes. “She died. Half a year ago, she wanted to go to one of these festivals again. It was winter… she fell and broke her leg. I know, that’s nothing that could kill a person. But she went alone and… you see she wasn’t the youngest anymore… She froze to death. The pain in her leg had made her faint and she couldn’t even call for help anymore. When she was found the next morning, it was too late already…” the man sobbed, but didn’t cry. I, on the other hand, whined like a little child. I don’t know, but stories like these could always make me cry, so I couldn’t hold it back.

“But…” I sniffed. “But what does this have to do with me?”

The man got up and got out the jar.

“These are her ashes.” He said and went to the table. There was another jar with powder, but it looked different.

“And this… It has something to do with the contract. That contract can bring another person back to life… But for that, you need to pay a price. A really high price. This jar… it contains grinded bones. Of young people, just like you. And you are the last one I need…”

I gasped and jumped up. But the man calmly sat down again and continued what he also had done on the table before, grinding bones.

“That… what!?” I yelled. “That won’t work! I understand how desperate you are, but…”

“Shut up!” the man interrupted me. “You don’t know anything! This is my only way to get her back and you can’t hold me back from doing so! Don’t think you are the first one to tell me that! In fact, all the other nine people said the exact same thing!” he cried and covered his face with his hands.

I tucked my hand through the cage and tried to reach him. He looked terrible, sitting there, having lost almost all of his hope. His had snapped up again and he gave me an angry gaze.

“It was a promise.” He hissed. “You wouldn’t understand. What was the meaning in signing that contract if I’m not using my advantages of it? Only one more person… It’s only you…”

That man was definitely crazy. From one second to the other, he could be incredibly sad, making you want to help him, and then turn into the creepiest guy you’ve ever seen.

He ignored me and continued doing his work.

I needed to find a way out. I needed to prove the man that he couldn’t get someone back who just died. That was impossible.

But how should I get out of here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know what to say about this chapter... :D  
> Please tell me what you think about it! Comments are loved <3


	3. Chapter 3

The man was so bound up into his work that he didn’t realize me trying to find a way out. The window was open and I saw that jumping out of it was a good option. If only that cage wouldn’t be there…  
I looked around and found the keys on a nearby table. My arms would probably be long enough to reach them, but the man would notice for sure.  
“Could you… could you give me some water? I’m dying of thirst!” I said when I made sure that there was no water in this room.  
“What’s the meaning in drinking something now? You’re going to die anyway.” The man said, not being distracted from his work even a little bit.  
“You’re not a bad person, I know that… You’re not happy to have killed all these people. So maybe you will make it as comfortable as possible for me before I die?”  
He finally lifted up his head again and narrowed his eyes.  
“What are you planning to do? You sound like you accepted your fate. And you would be the first one to do so.” He lowered and tilted his head.  
“You want to go out, don’t you?” he sighed and looked into my eyes again. “I know how you must feel… And I feel terrible for everything I did. Turn around. I’m going to chain up your hands and we will go out for a while. Since you’re the last one…” I heard him sobbing and felt sorry again. That guy sure was schizophrenic or something. But I turned around to let him chain my hands again. That was the only way to free myself.  
The man also had attached some kind of leash around my neck and my waist. At least it was not made of steel again, so my skin wouldn’t have to suffer like it did before.  
When we stepped outside, it was warmer than I had expected. But while looking around, I had other worries. It seemed like the man’s house was in the middle of a forest.  
Surrounded by huge trees, I couldn’t even see a path or something that could have leaded out of this place.  
“Surprised?” the man asked when he saw the startled expression on my face.  
“She didn’t like cities or even villages. She preferred living alone, or at least with few people around her. And since I was the only one she trusted in, apart from these alleged magicians of course.”  
I really didn’t get this man. First he talked about a contract they both believed in, then he slandered about this supernatural stuff like it was kids’ stuff.  
“That’s why we build our own house out here. Pretty, isn’t it? Of course we would have to go to the city to buy some things from time to time, but we tried to do anything ourselves.” He sighed and pulled me towards the forest.  
“That’s another reason for getting her back. I can’t do all these things alone. And moving into the city…I couldn’t do that. It would feel like I would betray her.”  
We walked further into the forest and I wasn’t even sure if the man still knew where we were going. He was gazing in abstraction, like he would remember bygone things. And he probably was.  
“What… What are you going to do with me?” I asked carefully, not having the courage to bring out more than a whisper.  
The man slowly lifted up his head and looked at me. His eyes looked empty and a sad smile flashed over his face.  
“Don’t worry. You won’t have to suffer. At least I hope so…”  
“Y-You hope so?” My heart started racing and I felt him pulling the leash stronger than before probably out of the fear of me running away.  
“The contract said it doesn’t matter how the first nine people die. But you… I don’t want to scare you, so I will tell you later. It’s not the time for that yet.”  
I sighed and swallowed hard. He had no idea that he made me suffer much more like this. If I knew what he was going to do with me I could have prepared myself for that, at least mentally.  
The forest seemed endless. We must have been walking for hours when the man finally stopped and turned to me.  
“We’re almost there.” He said and pulled me towards a tree.  
“What? Where?” my voice sounded panicked and that was exactly how I felt. He was not going to kill me in this forest, right? I thought I would have had some more time to think. Some more time to make up a plan how to get out of here.  
Despite the warm weather, I shuddered when the man pulled out a rope out of his pocket.  
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to strangle you with that.”  
He pressed me onto the tree and tied up my hands behind it.  
“Just so you won’t run away. We have to be here for one night or it won’t work. This tree was the one she was found at in the morning.”  
I gasped and tried to free myself. He had tied the rope pretty strong and it was cutting into the wounds at my wrists that hadn’t healed yet.  
“Could you at least ease the rope a bit? You’re here, so I can’t run away anyways.” I said and it was true. My wrists were hurting terribly and even if the rope was loosened, I probably couldn’t free myself.  
The man raised an eyebrow but did what I had asked for. I intricately sat down and leaned my head back against the bark of the tree. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down so I could think of a way to get out of here.  
The sun was already setting when the man stood up, without saying a word. He picked up some moss and came over to me.  
“Let me put this at the back of your head.” He said. “So it won’t be that uncomfortable tonight.”  
I did what he told me and it really helped. I could relax my neck a bit and closed my eyes. The forest had become completely silent, except for some leaves rustling quietly.  
When I opened my eyes again it was quite dark and I had problems with seeing where the old man was sitting.  
“Are you asleep?” I whispered, getting a grunt as an answer.  
I waited a few more minutes before I started trying to free myself out of the rope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is a rather boring chapter? Sorry :D I'll try to do better next time ^^  
> Please tell me your opinion about it! ^^


	4. Chapter 4

The rope was tighter then I had thought. I rubbed it against the bark, trying to be silent. I could feel that it was about to rip when I heard the man’s voice.

“How are you doing over there? Are you sleeping?”

I tried to put on my sleepiest voice and forced myself to yawn.

“I just woke up. Do you know what time it is? I’m feeling cold.”

“Try to sleep a bit more. It’s only a few more hours.” His voice sounded pitiful but already a few minutes later I could hear his snoring again.

I carefully rubbed the rope against the bark again before it finally tore apart. I let out a sigh of relief and got up, trying not to make too much noise with the leafs lying on the ground.

But after only a few meters of walking, I gave up hope. Not only that I had no clue where to walk in this dark, unfamiliar forest, but also I could hear the man’s voice, clearly audible, behind me. I ran behind a bush and ducked quickly, hoping for him to pass by.

“Where are you?!” I heard him yelling.

“You can’t just run away! You’ll get lost and die in this forest! Then, why not die for a good reason?!” he stopped right in front of the bush and I stopped breathing for a time. I heard him falling down on his knees, sobbing.

“I’m so sorry…” he wept and let out a scream afterwards.

“Please…” his voice was not much more than a whisper now, as if he would know that I was kneeling so close to him.

Then I heard him take a deep breath, before he got up and continued walking, still shouting out veiled threats. When his voice had gotten more silent I got up and ran into the opposite direction. I didn’t care where I ran, I just wanted to get as much space between us as possible.  
Completely out of breath, I had to rest at a fallen tree after at least 20 minutes of running through the forest.

Even if the man had taken the same direction as me, he couldn’t be close. I couldn’t imagine that he was as fast as someone who was one third of his age. I tried to calm down and held my wrists into the first rays of sunshine to see how they looked. The rope had probably been old, maybe even handmade, and my wrists were sore. I scrubbed of the coarsest dirt, which was kind of useless because my hands were dirty too. If I wouldn’t clean it soon, it would cause a terrible inflammation. But that was my littlest worry right now. I got up and started running again, a bit slower than before.

I wasn’t even sure if I walked in a circle, when suddenly I heard car noises from nearby.

“Finally!” I gasped and ran towards the road, using the rest of my strength. As soon as I reached it, my legs refused to work and I collapsed.

I could hear a “Hey, are you okay?” before everything around me became black.

________________

“I think he’s waking up!” I heard a familiar voice on my right.

“Shh! The doctor said he still needs rest!” another familiar voice from my left.

I blinked slowly and tried to get used to the bright light. When I was finally able to see clearly, I looked around. I was lying in a white room, probably a hospital. My band mates were sitting around my bed, watching me with a look of expectancy.

“How do you feel?” the familiar voice from the right, Chinen, asked me.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” the voice from the left, Keito, snapped at him.

“I-I feel fine.” I said, but my voice proved me wrong. I had to cough and only then I realized how awful my head was pounding.

“You definitely don’t.” Kota said, sitting at the end of my bed, looking at me angrily.  
“Why are you always trying to please everybody? That evening, too, you could have stayed at home instead of going to dance practice, but no, you came, not caring that you were ill! And what do we have now? A half-dead Ryosuke lying in the hospital!”

“I’m sorry…” I whispered. My voice sounded terrible and my throat felt dry.

I looked at my wrists, they were bandaged, but they still hurted like hell. My shoulder was patched up too and the throbbing in my head decreased with every passing minute.

I rested until the next day, forcing myself to ban every thought of what had happened. But the questions in my head became louder and louder, until I couldn’t ignore them anymore.

What did the man do? Did he get out f the forest, or did he get lost while he searched for me? Was he still looking for me or did he already find another victim? Or maybe, did he realize that it was useless? Did he give up?

I pressed my head further into my pillow because the throbbing had started again. I _had_ to find out what happened. I couldn’t just lie here and wait for something to happen.

I didn’t tell anyone what had happened. Not that no one had asked, but I still felt terribly sorry for the man and I could somehow understand his actions. So I just shrugged off everyone, telling them that I didn’t remember. Inside, I knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do now, but I didn’t want to drag anyone into this. Too many dangerous things that could happen, too many worries were spooking inside my head.

“Hey!” Chinen strolled into the white room I was lying in and took place on a chair. “How are you doing?”

“Better, I guess.” I forced a smile onto my face and got up into a sitting position to prove the truth of my words. “There’s something you need to do for me, ok?” I put on an innocent face and looked into his eyes. “I can’t tell you why, but you need to help me to get out of here. There’s something I need to do.”

“Can’t that wait until next week? You’re not fully recovered yet and I don’t want to be at fault if you collapse again…” he scratched and tilted his head, pulling an unsure face.

“ _Please!_ ” I begged. “It’s important. And it’ll get dangerous, not only for me, if I don’t go.”

Chinen thought about my words and then sighed.

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped then.” He got up from his chair. “How can I disregard a wish of my best friend?”


	5. Chapter 5

“Just wait here. I’ll get you some other clothes so it won’t be as suspicious.” Chinen said and he was right. Walking around in hospital clothing would surely be noticed. And it would probably not be too comfortable wearing it while going through a forest.

I waited and when I was almost sure that Chinen wouldn’t come back I heard a knock on my door. He entered the room and threw some clothes at my bed.

“These are my clothes so don’t rip them or anything, ok?” he said and smiled at me.

I changed quickly and we sneaked out of the hospital. It was easier than expected; the few nurses that were still working didn’t even notice us and just minutes later we stood outside the entrance.

“That was… kind of easy.” Chinen said and tilted his head. “Are you sure you can go? Your limping worries me, you know? You could at least tell me where you’re going so I can pick you up when you’re done with whatever you have to do.”

“I’m sorry.” I answered. “I can tell you when I’m done, but picking me up from there…” I exhaled and scratched my head. “But thank you. Seriously. I owe you one.”

Chinen turned to go away but I called him back one more time.

“Are you going home?” I asked.

“Yeah, why?” he answered and lifted his eyebrows.

“No, nothing, just… It’s late already, so, be careful, okay?” Then I turned away and ran towards the train station.

But wait, where did I even have to go? It was a forest next to a road, okay, but there were many like that. I stopped and walked into the opposite direction again. It was probably a stupid idea to go back to the hospital and ask where I had been found, but I couldn’t think of anything better. So I walked up to the reception desk and found a tired-looking nurse lifting up her head as I knocked at the glass partition.

“Yes? How can I help you?” she asked and took a sip from her coffee.

“I… uhm… The patient that has been hospitalized two days ago… Could you tell me where he had been found?” I looked around nervously in the empty entrance hall.

“Name?” she already rummaged through her documents.

“Y-Yamada Ryosuke.” I said in a quiet voice and her head snapped up.

“Wait… Isn’t that _you_? Shouldn’t you be lying in your room? Your injuries were terrible!” She got up, making her way to me to bring me back into my room.

I panicked, took the documents that were lying on her desk and pulled them through the slit of the glass partition. Then I ran as fast as I could, hearing the nurse shouting after me.

It was almost a miracle that I could outdistance her. I hid behind a car and I could hear her cursing as she went back to the hospital.

When I had calmed down a bit, I searched through the documents. I skimmed the names and let out a gasp of relief when I finally found mine. To my advantage, I knew the street and the forest that was written down there. But to my disadvantage, it was kind of far away and I didn’t have money for train or bus.

“Aaah, what should I do?” I whispered and got up. It was in the middle of the night and since this weren’t even my own clothes, I didn’t have my phone with me.

I intended to just walk until I got a better idea but then I found myself standing in front of Chinen’s house.

When my eyes found his bike, locked in front of the little garden shed, I didn’t even think much about my actions. I had lend his bike before, that’s why I knew the security code of the lock, but I couldn’t just knock on his door and tell him now, so I felt really sorry.

“I’m definitely bringing it back! Sorry!” I whispered, taking the bike with me. It’s the thought that counts, right? If he knew what situation I was in, he surely wouldn’t be mad at me.

Riding the bike hurted severe, but I forced myself to pedal even faster. Who knew if the man had already found another victim? And then I didn’t want to be too late.

I cycled along the street, and it seemed like forever until I saw a part of the grass that was pushed in. That was probably the point where I had collapsed, so I got of the bicycle. After I hid it behind a bush so no one would steal it, I made my way through the forest. At first it was easy, but the deeper I got into the forest, the harder my footprints were to see.

But I somehow managed, after at least an hour of walking, to get to the clearance with the man’s house.

I decided that I first should rest a bit. Not just because my legs were shaking of the pain, but also because it was still dark and it was freaking creepy here, especially with the thought of the bone grinding man sitting in his house.

So I sat down at a tree and while I was waiting for the sun to rise, I thought about what I should do.

Would the man be expecting me? Maybe he would have prepared another one of these injections. And I was sure he wouldn’t let me escape once more. But I couldn’t just go away now. That man was way too dangerous to be on the loose. If he had found someone else who would take my place now and if his plans didn’t work out… What would he do then? He _was_ dangerous, without any doubt.

And I was the only one who knew about him and his plans. Which means, I was also the only one who could stop him.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. If only one more person would die, it would be _my_ fault.

Unaware of what I was doing, I had ripped out some tiny branches of the tree I was leaning at. One had stung into my hand and I saw a little drop of blood running down my index finger.

“Damn!” I wiped my hand at my trousers before I realized that they weren’t mine.

“Oh…” I tried to get the little blood stain away, but it didn’t work. Hopefully I could wash it out easily.

I came to the conclusion that I should take one of the branches with me. It was better than nothing for my defense. Of course, I was not planning to use it, but who knew…

I saw rays of sun glaring through the canopy of leaves and got up. I couldn’t chicken out anymore now, so I took a few steps towards his house.

Then I heard a loud scream from inside, and it definitely wasn’t a scream of the old man.

I suddenly felt dizzy but started running. I couldn’t be too late! I would never be able to forgive myself if even one more person dies…

Moreover, that voice… It had sounded familiar. Way too familiar.


	6. Chapter 6

I ran as fast as I could and didn’t even bother to knock on the door. Stumbling into the living room, I saw a familiar face, with widened eyes looking at me.

“Chinen!” I almost fell onto the floor and my legs felt as weak as they never did before.

The old man was sitting in front of my band mate, who was chained onto a chair. Without reconsidering my actions, I grabbed the old man and pulled him backwards.  
What my eyes met then was awful. Chinen’s wrists had been cut open, he was losing blood. _A lot of blood._ He also some little wounds all over his face and he seemed unusually pale.

I had probably pulled the man a little bit _too_ strong, because he was lying at the end of the room, unconscious. But, well, he deserved it!

“Are you okay?!” I kneeled in front of my friend, crying. I shook his shoulders and he slowly began to talk.

“I-I’m okay…” his voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “Can we… get out of here?” he smiled dull and closed his eyes.

“No! Open your eyes!” my voice was shaking. I ripped off the sleeves of my, well, not exactly my, sweater and used it as an improvised bandage for his wrists.

“Don’t leave me now…” I whispered and sobbed while I was searching for a phone. Didn’t this guy have a phone in his house?! Then I found one. It was mine and I was glad the old man hadn’t thrown it away yet. I needed a few tries until I could type in the three numbers correctly because my hands were trembling like a leaf. I tried to describe my whereabouts and then I could just wait. It seemed like hours when I finally heard the ambulance. I let them in and realized that I couldn’t even tell them what was going on, so I said that the man (who had passed out after he had seen all the blood) and I had found Chinen like this.

Fortunately I was a good actor and they believed me.

“Was this a suicide attempt?” One of the ambulance men asked me while the others vetted Chinen and the old man.

“I-I don’t know.” My voice was still shaking and tears were flowing over my face.

“Will he be okay?” I asked.

“The old man, yes. He doesn’t have any serious injuries. But the boy… I’m not sure. He has lost a lot of blood. We will do everything we can, but I can’t promise you that he’ll be okay.”

And that were the last words I heard before everything around me became black.

__________

When I woke up, this time, there was no one sitting at my bed, waiting for me to open my eyes. I blinked and looked around the room. My band mates were sitting around the bed next to mine.

I got myself out of bed and stumbled towards them.

“Whoa!” Takaki got up when he saw me and pushed me back onto my bed. “You’re not going anywhere this time!” he said angrily and took a seat beneath me.

“What were you thinking? And do you know anything about Chinen? I mean, what happened? He did not seriously attempt suicide, did he?” he sputtered out his words so fast, not even letting me time to answer.

“And who’s that guy?” he nodded into another direction and when I turned around I saw the old man lying in the other bed. Just how hard did I push him that he was still unconscious? Maybe he hit his head or something? But I didn’t really care at that moment. I only wanted to know how Chinen was doing and if he would be fine.

“Are you even listening to me?” Takaki tapped my shoulder and looked at me questioningly.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry, what did you say?” I blinked and cleared my head again.

“Never mind.” He rolled his eyes. “Just, tell me what happened. I mean, what _really_ happened. I’m not buying this suicide-attempt story.”

Takaki didn’t seem too sad so I assumed that Chinen was not in a life-threatening condition anymore.

“That’s… kind of a long story.” I said. “Long and weird. I don’t think you would understand it.”

“What does _that_ mean?” he lifted his eyebrows and crossed his arms. “Just tell me the story. I’m sure I will understand it.”

I still did not have the heart to tell him the whole truth, but I said that the man had kidnapped us and hurted us like that. I kept quiet about the bone-grinding-contract part, thinking it was the best not to tell anyone about this. I didn’t even know if Chinen was in the know about that. Maybe the man had been wary since my escape and didn’t tell him like he told me.

“That man over there?” Takaki asked with his eyes wide opened. “Wow, he really doesn’t look like someone who would do this. Do you know his reasons? He wouldn’t kidnap you out of pure boredom, right?”

“No, I’m not sure about his reasons.” I hated to lie to my friends, but it was better for everyone. “Maybe he’s just insane? How could you not be, living alone in the middle of a forest…”

“Hey, don’t make me feel sorry for the man who almost killed you!” Takaki pulled a face. “But I understand why you didn’t tell the truth to the other people. You really have a too big heart, don’t you?” he smiled and patted my shoulder.

I smiled back and laid onto my bed. I was still feeling dizzy and needed some rest. And there was nothing else I could do now anyway.

It was already dark outside when I woke up. The others were gone, so it was just the man, Chinen and me lying in this room.

“Is anyone awake?” I whispered into the darkness of the room.

“I am.” My band mate whispered back and I heard blankets moving.

“Don’t get up!” He was probably still weak because of the loss of blood he had. “I’ll come to you.”

I got out of my bed and searched for my friend in the dark room. I couldn’t really see anything but I managed to find the other bed without hurting myself again. Nervously stroking over the cold blanket, I began to speak quietly.

“”Did that man tell you anything before he… did that to you?” I hoped my voice was silent enough to not have the old guy listen to us.

“No. Why? He dragged me into a forest and then into his house. He didn’t say a word. How did you even find us?” his face finally became more visible for me and I looked into his eyes.

“That’s… listen. That man is crazy. He has killed some people and I should have been his last victim. Since I escaped, he took you. When he wakes up, he will definitely try again. Not with us maybe, but that doesn’t matter. We have to change his mind, somehow.”

“Change whose mind?” the light switch suddenly got turned on and the glare made me sightless for a second.

I rubbed my eyes and looked up again. The man was standing at the end of the bed, giving us an angry glance.


	7. Chapter 7

“Tell me!“ the man furiously shouted. “Whose mind needs to be changed?!” he came closer to the bed we were sitting on and gave us a serious look. “Are you talking about _me_?!” he hissed. “You have no idea what I had to go through!” I had to avert my eyes from his stare and I saw Chinen doing the same. “Don’t think you know me! Or how I _feel_! You two are so young… how could you know how it feels like to lose a person you have lived with for your whole life?!” his breathing was heavy and his eyes were red, but he kept staring at us. Then something happened, what I never would have guessed. Chinen lifted his head and returned the man’s look. He took a deep breath and began to yell back at him.

“And who are you for wanting to take this experience from us?! I don’t know about your reasons.” Right, he didn’t know about the dead wife yet. “But I don’t care! You talk about how beautiful it is to live with someone for your whole life, but you _end_ other lives and take the chance of them experiencing it!”

What followed was a terrible silence. The two stared at each other, but then the man went back to his bed. He curled together, resting his head on his knees and we heard him sobbing. I took a step towards him but Chinen held me back.

“Don’t talk to him now. You would just encourage him to do something stupid again.” He said and pulled me backwards.

I felt terrible. I know I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help it. The man was suffering so much. And he already _had_ suffered so much. And even worse, I was somehow able to _understand_ his actions now.

Until the sun rose, we did nothing but sitting there and looking at the man, who was still sobbing. Then he suddenly got up and looked at us.

“You don’t want to die, right?” there was silence for a moment. “And you don’t want _me_ to die, right?! Even though you think I’m a horrible person, you don’t want to see me dead. We can… prevent both. But only if you are willing to help me.” He looked at us expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘helping’? I swear, if it’s this weird, crazy stuff again…” Chinen began but the man interrupted him.

“No, no! It’s just… I told you the story about that contract, right?” his eyes were fixed on me as I nodded. “You can… No, you _have to_ break that contract again. Otherwise, I’m the one who will die. If I won’t save my wife within half a year from her death, I will die. And I won’t let that happen.”

Chinen turned his head towards me and whispered:”What is he talking about? What contract?” but I showed him to be silent. The man sighed and continued talking.

“There’s only two weeks left. You need to find the man who made that contract and get him to void it.”

“We… what?” Chinen said doubtfully but I cut him short.

“We’ll do it!” I nodded towards the man and forced a smile on my face. “That’s the only way to make sure nobody gets hurt anymore, right?” I sighed and let myself fall onto the bed. The old guy pulled me up again and looked at me angrily.

“You better hurry!” he hissed. “Or do you think I’ll give you these whole two weeks? I want to make sure you don’t trick me or anything, so, of you can’t do it within one week I’ll find another victim. You’re friends looked nice…”

“You were _awake_?!” I shouted. “And… are you serious? Where should we even _begin_ to search?”

“That’s not my problem…” the man sighed. “Well, actually it _is_ , but _I_ have a plan B. So it’s _your_ problem to find him.”

That guy really was the devil in disguise.

“We’ll do it.” Chinen said and tried to get himself out of bed. He struggled with his first steps but then he walked almost normally.

“You’re not fully recovered yet…” I began but he shook his head.

“It’s okay.” He said. “I can walk and that’s enough.”

I sighed and didn’t even try to protest more. And I was happy that I didn’t have to go alone.

It was as easy as last time. With normal clothes on, no one in the hospital noticed us going outside.

“So… where should we start?” I asked when we stood in front of the building, not knowing which direction to take.

“Could you first tell me what’s going on? I have no idea what contract that guy talked about and I just accepted because I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

I sighed and told him the whole story. From the point I walked home from the dance practice to the time I saved him from the man. This time, I didn’t leave out anything.

“That’s crazy…” Chinen gasped after I had told him everything. “These things are fake, right? Why does he believe in a contract he made at a funfair or something?”

“He’s desperate, I guess.” He had really loved his wife. That probably made him believe in the ridiculous things _she_ had believed in.

“Then, let’s look if there’s kind of an event like this. We could ask around there.” Chinen said and started walking, still stumbling a bit. I went after him and we soon found a magazine at a store about supernatural things.

“That magazine just came out last week…” Chinen said to himself and then tapped at the lower part of the page he had opened. “Found it! It’s a festival for everyone who’s interested in supernatural things. _Everything the heart could wish for!_ ” he giggled when he read out the last words. I slapped his shoulder, but couldn’t suppress a silent laughter, too.

“It’s today. Let’s go there.” He said and put back the magazine. “It’s actually close by.”

I nodded and smiled at him. We weren’t completely clueless anymore, and we were hoping to find at least a tiny hint at that festival.


	8. Chapter 8

We were welcomed by loud music and a huge crowd of people.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that…” Chinen whispered while we cut our way through the throng. And I hadn’t expected that, too. Maybe a few people who were interested, but never that many.

My eyes met a little shop in a corner of the festival place. None of the many people around us stopped or even looked at it. The shop owner was sitting on a wooden chair, his gaze wandering around.

“That guy doesn’t look too busy. Let’s ask him.” I grabbed my friend’s wrist and pulled him with me.

We had some difficulties getting through the huge crowd of people but we eventually arrived at the little shop.

The man lifted up his head without greeting us. He tilted his head questioningly, as if he didn’t expect any customers.

“H-Hello.” I stuttered, a bit intimidated by the man’s silence. “We wanted to ask… if you may could help us?”

He raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair.

“Depends.” A hoarse voice escaped from his lips.

I swallowed and took a step towards the counter. “We are searching for someone. We don’t know his name or anything…” I let out a nervous laughter. “But it is important.”

The man narrowed his eyes and leaned forward again. Placing his hands on the counter, his gaze became expectantly. “Who are you searching for? If you don’t have a name it can’t be that important.”

“It is!” I interrupted him, probably a bit too loud, because some people around us stopped to look at us. I lowered my voice and started talking again. “It _is_ important.” I said vigorously. “An acquaintance asked us to find him. They made a contract or something…” I looked around to make sure no one was watching us anymore. “And if we can’t break this contract, somebody will die.”

For a fraction of a second, the man’s eyes widened, but he soon had himself under control again.

“Contracts…” he mumbled to himself. “Let me think… Right!” his head snapped up and he looked at us.

“That tent there.” He pointed at a tent on the other side of the festival place. “I think they do contracts. I’ve never talked to them though…” he sighed. “Probably because they don’t _want_ to be talked to. They take their role pretty serious.” He shook his head and tried to smile. “Anyways, good luck.”

We thanked him and wormed our way through the crowd again. When we had finally arrived at the tent, we looked at each other a bit scared.  
If these people really took their job so serious, would they be mad at us? Would they break the contract or just kick us out again?  
And moreover, what would we do then? Of course, we could tell the man that we succeeded, there was no way for him to make sure we really did. But still, we felt sorry for the man, and it would make it just worse if we would have to lie to him. So even if we didn’t believe in that contract, breaking it seemed like the best way.

“Should I go ahead?” Chinen took a step towards the closed cover of the tent but I shook my head. It was somehow my fault that we had to go here so I should be the one to take the consequences.

There was a little golden bell hanging down at the entrance. I reached out my hand to ring it, but at that moment the cover opened and a young, black-haired woman looked at us with a serious face.

“Can I help you?” she asked while scrutinizing us.

“Can we… Can we enter?” my voice was shaking a bit and I cleared my throat.

“What do you want?” her gaze became even colder and her hands cramped around the pole of the tent. “Aren’t you two too young for festivals like these?”

“I don’t think we are.”  Chinen piped up from behind me. “But we need your help. Do you do things like contracts and such?”

The woman’s eyes widened and she bit her lip.

“Contracts?” she whispered. “We don’t do them anymore…” She stroked through her hair nervously. “Too dangerous.” She took a step back and was about to close the cover again but I held it open.

“We need your help!” I insisted and pulled the cover open completely. Inside the tent were some people, but none of them seemed like customers. They looked at us with their eyes wide opened, but keeping silent.

“This is important.” I said and gave a serious look to all of them. “You did do a contract with a man… His wife died and he’s killing people! He sent us to break the contract and if we don’t do it, someone will die!”

One of the people sitting got up and took my hand. He shook it gently and then pulled me in. Chinen followed us but we both were somewhat nervous when the woman closed the tent again and everything became silent.  
Not even the people outside were audible. It was like we had just entered another world.

“What are you talking about?” the man who had pulled me in pointed at two empty chairs.  
I took a seat and looked around again. Chinen did the same and eventually he was the one to speak up first.

“We don’t know his name, but a man made a contract with his wife when they were younger. His wife died half a year ago and now he’s… well, killing people and collecting their bones or something.”

We heard a gasp from behind. The black-haired woman was still standing at the entrance and now slowly came closer.

“Grinding. You mean grinding their bones, right?” she asked carefully and her eyes widened.

“Y-Yes!” this time I was the one to raise my voice first. “So, you’re the right people? Can we break the contract?”

The people in the room suddenly giggled. The man narrowed his eyes and got up from his chair.

“These contracts aren’t made to be broken again, you know?” he raised his eyebrows and came a little closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I'm somewhat busy and I was kind of unmotivated the past few days, lol.
> 
> But please leave a comment and tell me what you think!


	9. Chapter 9

Chinen let out a bitter laugh and got up from his chair.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked in a disparaging tone. “You can’t tell me that these things are real! Just tatter some piece of paper and give it to us! That old man will definitely believe us!”

The room became silent again. Everyone was looking at us, not giggling or even smiling anymore. Especially the man’s gaze became angry as he raised his voice to yell at us.

“Oh, so you came here for saying this?!” he knocked over his chair as he came closer to us. “Then you could have just done it yourself, right?! Think about it! You came here, that means, somewhere deep inside your heart, you _believe_ in this contract!” he was now standing directly in front of us, breathing heavily. We didn’t dare to give anything back, and we needed some time to let his words sink.  
Maybe we really had to admit that we believed the story.  
Or maybe we only wanted to believe that these 9 people didn’t die for nothing. That was a possibility too, right?

“Maybe…Maybe we just want to make sure…” I stuttered. “Well, just _in case_ the contract is real…”

“Oh, just in case?” the man’s voice got quiet, but more sarcastic. “So, you actually want to _help_ that man? If he doesn’t die because of the contract, you will surely go to the police, won’t you? And do you think he will be happy with sitting in jail for the rest of his life? Isn’t it better for him to die then?”

I gasped and looked onto the ground. I had thought it would be the best to solve everything and then go to police, because that old man was seriously dangerous for public. But that guy really had a point there…

“We wouldn’t go to the police…” I said, feeling my cheeks warming. “He would probably… Become normal if he sees that the contract was of no use, right?”

Chinen cleared his throat. “Or lose his head and slaughter each and everyone that gets into his field of vision.” He mumbled and I kicked his leg.

“Can’t we just… destroy the _real_ contract, please? We won’t bother you anymore then.” I nodded to encourage everyone to believe me and, despite of what I was expecting, the man turned around and got out a sheet of paper from a folder that way lying on one of the chairs.

“Take it.” He sighed. “And then get out of here. You’re annoying and I don’t want to see you ever again.” His hand went to his head to knead his temples, as if we just gave him a headache.

I thanked him exaggeratingly and pulled Chinen out of the tent with me.

As soon as we stood outside the tent, my friend groaned and breathed air out of his nose heavily. “What was that guy thinking?!” he let out angrily. “We didn’t come here for fun! And he’s calling us annoying? Who’s the one who’s annoying here? Definitely not us!”

“What’s with you being so pissed?” I laughed and poked his side. “Wasn’t it actually me who should be like that? Since I got kidnapped first and-“ I got interrupted by my band mate. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. But I got almost killed too, okay?!”

I didn’t answer anymore because I didn’t want to fight with him. I was actually thankful that I didn’t have to go here alone so I just kept silent and dragged Chinen out of the festival with me.

“We should hurry and get to the man…” I said, more to myself, when we were sitting in the train. I hadn’t read the contract, but I was staring at its backside the whole time, still debating in my mind if I should read it or not. Of course I was curious to know what was written on there. But on the other hand… I didn’t want to imagine what the man had to do already or what he still had to do… I wasn’t sure if my stricken mind could stand that now. So I just kept staring at it, looking at every centimeter that was not inscribed, blurring my vision so I wouldn’t be able to read even one word.

I flinched a bit when Chinen tapped my shoulder. “What’s on there? Are you actually reading that?”

I shook my head and handed him the piece of paper. “Do you want do? I… didn’t dare to read it. My mind is already full of cruel pictures.” And it really was. Since that day, I wasn’t able to forget how awful Chinen looked when he was in that old man’s living room. Wrists cut open, having lost a lot of blood, his face as pale as I had never seen it before… I shivered when these thoughts crossed my head again. Not to speak of what that old man had done with the other people… The people before us.

Chinen looked at me and shook his head, too. “Not interested.” He said and folded the paper to get it into his trouser pocket.

His head turned towards me a bit more and he tried to smile when he saw my depressed look.

“Hey, don’t be like that.” He said and pinched my cheek. “Let’s go to that man and get rid of the paper. Then, everything will be fine again.”

I forced a smile on my face and nodded. I wasn’t too full of hope, but that smiling face was what I needed right now, or else I would have lost my mind.

We kept quiet for the rest of our ride and I was somehow got sad when we had to get out.

Inside that train, everything had seemed so _normal_ , like we could have been going everywhere. But when we got out, I couldn’t deny it anymore. I would have to face that man again. I wasn’t afraid of him, but my hands began shaking more and more with every step we took through the forest. Maybe the man became impatient, maybe he had killed his last victim already?

Last time, I had been almost too late, so what if we were this time?

I sighed and stepped my speed up a notch.

Then we saw it again. The house, standing on a clearing in the middle of the forest. I took a deep breath as we got closer until we stood directly in front of the door and knocked on it.


	10. Chapter 10

We heard steps from the inside before an asking voice came from the other side of the door.  
“Who’s there?” It was without doubt the old man’s voice.  
“Let us in, we got the contract.” I flinched a bit when I heard my voice. I felt scared and my legs were shaking, but my voice sounded strong and convinced.  
Then there was the sound of a lock opening and a familiar face greeted us with cold eyes and bared teeth.  
“You…” the man grumbled and narrowed his eyes.  “I didn’t expect you to make it…” the door opened a bit more.  
“Come in.” he said in a silent voice. “But let me warn you. If I see that there is something wrong with the contract, or if it’s not the real one… I already have a surprise for you.”

We looked at each other but then quickly stepped in. The man was already walking ahead of us, swinging his arms as he kept talking.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were famous?” he stopped in front of the door to his living room, resting his hand on the door handle.

“We-“ I began, but the man cut me off.

“I did a bit of research about you two when I found that out. And it’s definitely easier now to make sure you two aren’t fooling me now.” He laughed a bit, then pressed down the handle.  
I was confused as I took a few steps after him. What did he mean by that?

I gasped when I saw what was behind the living room door. I couldn’t restrain from running through the room and shaking panicky at the shoulders of the person sitting there, completely still.

“Yuto!” I screamed and heard Chinen coming after me.  
No matter how hard I shook him, he didn’t open his eyes. I could already feel tears burning in my eyes when the thought of the old man being too impatient, and therefore killing Yuto, crossed my head.

“He’s not dead… yet.” The man said while coming closer, laughing silently. “He was just really hard to get here. You two weren’t fighting back much, and I have to say that you’re not really tall and dragging you into my house wasn’t tiring at all…” he laughed and clapped his hands once, then took place on a chair. “I guess I gave him a bit too much of these narcotics…”

I turned towards him with my eyes wide opened.

“You know that that can kill him?!” I shouted, turning around again to feel my friend’s pulse. I sighed relieved. It was there. Weak, but it was there.

“We need an ambulance.” I said, more to myself, but the man just got up and laughed again.

“He’s alright. Now, how about you give me the contract? You can go and call as many ambulances as you want then.”

I didn’t dare to turn away from my friend, still afraid of him suddenly dying, so I just lifted my head a bit.  
“Chinen? You do it.” I said with a cold voice. The last thing I wanted to do was following the man’s orders, but it was impossible to do anything else.

My friend pulled the contract out of his pocket and handed it to the man.

He looked at it for a long time, and suddenly sighed, then started whispering.  
“You really did it.” He shook his head slowly. “You’re free to go now. Take your friend with you.”

He turned around and went out of the room without looking at us again. Chinen quickly ran towards me and helped me waking up Yuto. When he opened his eyes slowly, we sighed relieved and helped him getting up and out of the house.

“What exactly happened?” Yuto asked quietly while we fought our way through the forest, still supporting him.

“We’ll explain that later.” I answered and guided him over a huge branch that was lying on the ground. “But first we have to get you into a hospital. And we have to go to the police. Even though the man has let us out, he still has _killed_ people, and we can’t just let him get away with that.”

We continued walking away from the old man’s house.

We were finally _safe_.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I'm into writing all this horror-stuff lately. :P  
> I hope you liked it, please leave a comment and tell me your thoughts!  
> ~Misaki


End file.
